12 More Trains to Boost Capacity of North-South and East-West Lines

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has awarded a contract worth approximately S$136.8 million to Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd/CSR Qingdao Sifang Co. Ltd/Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. Consortium for the purchase of 12 new six–car trains for the North-South and East-West Lines (NSEWL).

2. These 12trains are the final batch of the 57 new trains that will be put into service from 2016 to 2019[1]. The first of these 12 trains will arrive in Singapore in early-2018, and will undergo testing at the NSEWL depots before they are put into service around the middle of 2019.

3. These NSEWL trains will be the first trains to feature tip-up seats that will provide additional flexibility in seat configuration. The trains will also come with commuter-centric features such as three rows of straphangers and triplicated grab-poles for standing passengers. Commuters can also refer to the Dynamic Route Map Display located at the top of each door for their current location, route information and the side the train doors will open at the next station.

4. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. has been in the railway manufacturing industry for over a century. Besides supplying trains in the Japanese domestic market, Kawasaki’s existing overseas projects include metro trains for the New York City Transit Authority and the Washington Metropolitan Area Authority. In Singapore, Kawasaki has supplied most of the trains on the NSEWL. Its first delivery was for the inaugural fleet of 66 six-car trains in 1986, with additional fleets of 56 trains delivered in 1999, 2011 and 2013. CSR Qingdao Sifang Co. Ltd has a history of cooperation with Kawasaki dating back to 1985. Since then, the two companies have worked on several joint contracts of linear motor MRT trains for Guangzhou Metro Line 4 and 5 and of high-speed trains for the Ministry of Railways of China. The Consortium is currently in progress of delivering 91 trains for the Thomson – East Coast Line.

More New Trains on Rail Network

5. From the start of this year to 2019, 99 more trains will be added to the NSEWL, North East Line (NEL) and Circle Line (CCL), increasing the overall train fleet size by close to 50%. This includes the 57 new trains for the NSEWL which will enter service from 2016. For the CCL, 12 new trains would have joined the CCL’s existing fleet of 40 trains by the end of 2015[2]; while four new trains would also have been added to the North East Line’s (NEL) fleet of 25 trains. By the end of 2016, all the 42 new trains for the CCL and NEL would be fully deployed.

New trains for existing lines

6. The 99 new trains are part of LTA’s continued efforts to improve the commuter’s travel experience, with greater capacity and comfort in our network. LTA will continue to monitor the demand along rail lines and work together with rail operators to augment the capacity and cater to the long-term projected demand.

[1] The first of the 57 trains arrived in May 2015 and will be put into service from the first quarter of 2016. The rest of the trains will arrive progressively over the next four years.

[2] Seven new CCL trains have been added into service since July 2015.